1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of hand tools. More particularly, the invention pertains to a hand tool having operable gripping jaws for extracting fasteners embedded in a material.
2. Description of Related Art
Fasteners, such as nails, brads, and staples, are commonly used to fasten objects to workpieces such as wood. A hammer, as is used to drive nails and brads, typically includes a claw for removing nails. Unfortunately, the claws of hammers do not grip fasteners with small heads such as finish nails and brads well. Furthermore, the heads of nails and brads are typically driven slightly below the surface of the fastened workpiece so the fasteners are less visible. In order to extract such an embedded fastener using the claws of a hammer, the fastener head must first be raised above the surface of the workpiece in which the fastener is embedded. Furthermore, powered nail guns are increasingly replacing hammers, and often drive nail heads below the workpiece surface, even for common nails. Nail guns typically have no provision for removing nails. Similarly, the use of staples in place of nails is increasing, and stapling tools also lack a means for removing fasteners.
Because of the above considerations there is a need for a dedicated tool to remove embedded fasteners. In addition to the claw found on common hammers, tools have been developed specifically for the purpose of removing fasteners, such as nails, brads, and staples, from workpieces.
A different type of nail extraction tool is typified by the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 143,496 to Capewell. This tool is oriented vertically above the fastener to be removed, and has hinged pincer-like jaws that can be driven under the fastener by means of a slide hammer integral to the vertical handle of the tool. Typically, one of the jaws has an extension that acts as a fulcrum for levering a gripped fastener from the workpiece. This class of tool is best suited to rough work where the appearance of the material is unimportant, such as the disassembly of crates or framing, since the pincers tend to cause significant damage to the surface of the workpiece around the fastener head, and the small area of the fulcrum generally causes damage to the surface against which it is applied. A related class of tool is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,733,001 to Wagner. The Wagner tool, like the Capewell tool and all other prior art fastener extraction tools with jaws, is oriented vertically above a fastener, in contrast to a tool of the present invention, which is preferably oriented horizontally with respect to the fastener. The Wagner tool includes moveable jaws for grasping the fastener and a fulcrum surface contiguous with one jaw. To apply the Wagner tool, the fastener must be partially emergent from the workpiece since the tool provides no means for digging under a fastener head that is flush with or embedded below the surface of the workpiece. This represents a significant inconvenience, since in many instances a user is forced to apply two separate tools to complete the job: one tool to pry the fastener head proud of the surface, and then the Wagner tool to complete the removal. This represents a significant inconvenience and inevitably slows the progress of the work at hand.
It would be beneficial to have a hand tool better adapted to extract a fastener from a workpiece. Such a hand tool should be capable of both easily accessing a fastener head flush with or below a surface and effectively prying the entire fastener from the workpiece without causing significant damage to the surface.